The present invention relates generally to manually operated equipment for facilitating transfer of waste material from a waste collection container into a garbage dumpster. More specifically, the invention relates to a container lifting and pivoting apparatus that may be permanently or removably mounted in a position adjacent to, or against a side of a conventionally designed garbage dumpster for facilitating the dumping of material from a waste container such as a garbage can or barrel into the dumpster.
Waste material is a normal by-product of most manufacturing operations. In some business operations, the collection and removal of waste material represents a frequent activity in which smaller containers are used for initial collection of waste, followed by periodic transfers of the collected material to larger receiving dumpsters. These dumpsters are normally located outside the indoor facility and are designed for large quantity collection, retention, and periodic emptying into traveling garbage trucks. In another respect, food service and preparation businesses, such as restaurants, normally generate a significant amount of organic waste that deteriorates rapidly and requires removal before it presents a health hazard or malodor nuisance.
Restaurant facilities often have a special problem which involves transferring accumulated waste from portable kitchen area trash cans or barrel-type receptacles to larger containers such as traditional garbage dumpsters that are usually located in an enclosure at a prescribed distance outside of the restaurant building. Kitchen waste usually includes a combination of liquid and solid matter. As intimated above, an organic component stems from food waste generated during preparation of menu selections and discarded food not consumed by the restaurant""s patrons. Solid non-food waste is generated from packaging, napkins and other discarded items incident to restaurant and dining activities. At the indoor collection point, this combination of waste material settles and packs densely into portable collection containers that may hold volumes measuring as much as fifty or more gallons. Such containers, when full, may weigh in excess of three hundred pounds. Movement by personnel of full containers, without proper assistance, can lead to personal injury.
Movement of waste in the portable collection containers from within a restaurant to the outdoor garbage dumpsters may be facilitated using wheeled containers or by placing the containers on maneuverable carts. At several times during the daily hours of operation, restaurant staff moves filled collection containers to transfer the accumulated waste to a large outdoor garbage dumpster. Typically, a full collection container such as a trash can requires lifting and tipping to empty the collected waste from the open top mouth of the container. The height of the garbage receiving opening into the dumpster usually requires the person lifting the full collection container to raise the container to a position significantly above the ground before tipping the can to empty the waste material into the dumpster. As indicated previously, the weight of a filled collection container is likely to be greater than the average person can safely and controllably lift from a resting position on the ground. Raising a full container up to a height sufficient to empty the contents into the dumpster, therefore, represents a potentially hazardous maneuver.
A common aid utilized in lifting and emptying waste collection containers relates to power assisted mechanisms that use a hook or similar means for connecting to a container specially constructed to receive such a hook. This construction, however, necessarily requires that the containers be specially adapted to be matingly engaged by such power systems. This is negatively viewed by most business owners who desire to use their conventional collection cans that they already have and are not interested in having to have specially configured and more expensive collection containers that may be are only obtainable from limited sources.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,814 discloses an hydraulic assist mechanism to raise, tip and empty waste from a full collection container into a garbage dumpster. The power mechanism is permanently bolted to the dumpster and requires mating engagement between features of the lifting mechanism and a specially designed waste collection container. U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,302 also discloses a relatively complex structure, with hydraulic assist, that empties material out of a collection container. In this patent, the container is either part of the structure or needs to be specially designed for attachment to the structure. The hydraulically operated lift and tip apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,940 has a similar requirement for a specially adapted waste collection container, but in this example, lifting handles or similar structure are also strategically included in the combination.
It should be appreciated that each of the patents discussed above employ power assisted hydraulic cylinders for powering connective mechanisms. U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,516 describes similar motorized equipment for inverting a portable container for emptying waste therefrom and into a larger garbage bin. Though free from hydraulic power assist, this equipment, like the others above are functional only with specially designed containers.
The cost of the powered lift-assist equipment described above is often prohibitively expensive for restaurants and other businesses which have a regular need for lifting and emptying waste containers that weigh three hundred pounds or more. As a result, most businesses, and especially restaurants, rely on manual dumping of waste containers or cans into dumpsters. These activities, however, are not risk-free; there is the potential for persons performing these activities to suffer disabling injuries that carry with them associated personal and monetary costs. These problems have revealed the need for low cost, lift and tip assist equipment that allows safe manual transfer of waste from collection containers to larger sized garbage dumpsters. Furthermore, in view of the above described deficiencies associated with the use of known designs for transferring the contents of heavy containers of waste using conventional lift-assist equipment, the present invention has been developed as an improvement thereto. These enhancements and benefits are described in greater detail hereinbelow with respect to several alternative embodiments of the present invention.
A manually operated lifting and rotating apparatus according to the present invention provides a removably mountable two part system including a bracing member and an angular displacement structure adapted to pivot relative to the bracing member. The bracing member includes a releasable clamp to prevent displacement of the member adjacent to the side of a dumpster. A bracing member includes legs optionally adapted to adjust to the height of the dumpster to provide stability during pivotal movement of the angular displacement structure. The angular displacement structure includes arms that may be adjustable, a folding platform and optionally bar extensions that may be grasped for additional leverage or by multiple personnel. With the folding platform extended, a waste collection container of substantially any design may be supported on the platform and secured to the angular displacement structure using repositionable restraints. The angular displacement structure bears the weight of the waste container so that the manual effort of emptying a container can be focused on raising the container into a position for tipping the waste into the garbage dumpster. Adjustment of the height of the platform may be required before pivotal movement of the displacement structure so that the mouth of the waste collection container is at least level with the upper edge of the garbage dumpster. As the longitudinal axis of the container reaches horizontal, waste material will begin to discharge into the garbage dumpster from the waste collection container. This lightens the container to facilitate continuing pivotal rotation of the container towards an inverted position to achieve substantially complete emptying of the contents of the container. As a safety feature, suitable measures may be employed to prevent unintended falling of the container or its contents during the emptying process. An exemplary solution would be the inclusion of a ratchet device at the pivot mechanism that ratchets up as the trash container is rotated from the essentially upright position to the tilted and emptying position. As a result, the lifting arrangement can not move backward toward the original position until specifically enabled by the operator. Such ratchet systems and their details are well known to those skilled in these arts, and is therefore not described in detail. Similarly, a ratcheted pulley system may be utilized in the pivoting process which achieves the same goal; only lifting action is enabled until the operator purposely disengages the ratchet feature allowing the lifting assembly and trash container to be lowered to the initial position.
More particularly, the invention provides a manually operated lifting and rotating apparatus permanently or removably attached to a garbage dumpster for supporting and positioning a waste collection container for waste material transfer to a dumpster. The lifting and rotating apparatus comprises a bracing member including a pair of legs, with each of the legs including a bracket having a hole formed therein. Each of the legs further has a releasable clamp adapted for frictional engagement over an upper edge of a garbage dumpster to prevent displacement of the bracing member adjacent to the side of a dumpster. An angular displacement structure, pivotally joined to the bracing member, includes a pair of arms each having a first end opposite a second end, there being a support platform connected between the first ends of the arms, each of the second ends having an orifice formed therein. Pivotal joining of the angular displacement member to the bracing member uses a pivot bar inserted through each the hole in the legs and each the orifice at the second end of the pair of arms such that the angular displacement structure pivots relative to the bracing member and a side of a garbage dumpster during manual application of force to raise and rotate a waste collection container, on the platform, sufficient to discharge waste material into the dumpster.
The beneficial effects described above apply generally to the exemplary devices and mechanisms disclosed herein for equipment useful for manually raising waste collection containers to empty their contents into garbage dumpsters. The specific structures through which these benefits are delivered will be described in detail hereinbelow.